November 12, 2012

Published
12:00 am CST, Monday, November 12, 2012

An unidentified nurse prepares an operating room table when Alton Memorial Hospital opened on Nov. 12, 1937. The hospital was built as a memorial to William Eliot and Alice Cole Smith by their daughters, Eunice C. Smith and Ellen Smith Hatch. Architects LeBeaume and Kline of St. Louis designed the hospital and was operated by an executive board of directors with the Methodist Church. Eunice Smith, who monitored progress personally, wanted large, airy rooms, and stressed that there should be "sunshine in every room." Telegraph archive photo.

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